also occur more often with chloramine because chloramine does not dissipate befcre reaching a

lake or river.

The greatest risk to the environment is not only from water main breaks or leaks, but also from

watering lawns and vegetable gardens, washing cars and streets, accidental spills, fire fighting,

storm sewer outfalls and commercial uses. The most likely route to the receiving environment will

be surface drainage systems.

Could we even imagine the impact on the environment in the event of an earthquake? With all the
work done to bring the salmon back into the streams of our communities, “It seems senseless to

put something into the water that would destroy the work everyone has done.” Coquitlam Mayor
Lou Sekora in opposition to chloramine said it best: "To think that we'd do something that could

turn the clock back 30 years: ! just can’t support it.”

2nd Reason: OUR HEALTH

Chloramine enters the bloodstream very rapidly when we drink water or brush our teeth with
chlorimated water. It is absorbed through the skin when we take a bath or shower. Chloramine
displaces existing oxygen, and prevents fresh oxygen from the lungs being utilized. Symptoms of
this lack of oxygen are headaches, depression, dizziness, tiredness and lowered immunity and
memory loss. In 1931, and again in 1933, Dr. Otto Warburg was awarded the Nobel Prize for
medicine for his proof that the major cause of cancer was oxygen starvation at the cellular level.
Chlorine and chloramine both prevent oxygen from being carried to body cells, and thus

contribute to cancer.

When chlorine or chloramine comes in contact with organic particles in the water it creates
trialomethanes, or THMs. Health and Welfare Canada has proposed a new lower drinking water

guideline for THMs, and for good reason: THMs have been proven carcinogenic. For more than
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